Axel Bergmann

Pharmaceuticals in the environment—Global occurrences and perspectives

Pharmaceuticals are known to occur widely in the environment of industrialized countries. In developing countries, more monitoring results have recently become available, but a concise picture of measured environmental concentrations (MECs) is still elusive. Through a comprehensive literature review of 1016 original publications and 150 review articles, the authors collected MECs for human and veterinary pharmaceutical substances reported worldwide in surface water, groundwater, tap/drinking water, manure, soil, and other environmental matrices in a comprehensive database. Due to the heterogeneity of the data sources, a simplified data quality assessment was conducted. The database reveals that pharmaceuticals or their transformation products have been detected in the environment of 71 countries covering all continents. These countries were then grouped into the 5 regions recognized by the United Nations (UN). In total, 631 different pharmaceutical substances were found at MECs above the detection limit of the respective analytical methods employed, revealing distinct regional patterns. Sixteen substances were detected in each of the 5 UN regions. For example, the anti-inflammatory drug diclofenac has been detected in environmental matrices in 50 countries, and concentrations found in several locations exceeded predicted no-effect concentrations. Urban wastewater seems to be the dominant emission pathway for pharmaceuticals globally, although emissions from industrial production, hospitals, agriculture, and aquaculture are important locally. The authors conclude that pharmaceuticals are a global challenge calling for multistakeholder approaches to prevent, reduce, and manage their entry into and presence in the environment, such as those being discussed under the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management, a UN Environment Program.

Yangtze Three Gorges Reservoir, China: A holistic assessment of organic pollution, mutagenic effects of sediments and genotoxic impacts on fish

Besides obvious benefits, the Three Gorges Dams construction resulted in new pollution scenarios with the potentials to threaten the Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR) ecosystem. In order to record organic contamination, to find links to ecotoxicological impacts and to serve as reference for ensuing monitoring, several sites in the TGR area were screened applying the triad approach with additional lines-of-evidence as a holistic assessment method. Sediments and the benthic fish species Pelteobagrus vachellii were sampled in 2011 and 2012 to determine organic pollution levels, mutagenic potentials and genotoxic impacts. Two regional hot-spots near the cities of Chongqing and Kaixian were identified and further investigated in 2013. Only polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) could be detected in sediments in 2011 (165-1653ng/g), emphasizing their roles as key pollutants of the area. Their ubiquity was confirmed at Chongqing (150-433ng/g) and Kaixian (127-590ng/g) in 2013. Concentrations were comparable to other major Chinese and German rivers. However, the immense sediment influx suggested a deposition of 216-636kgPAH/day (0.2-0.6mgPAH/(m(2)·day)), indicating an ecotoxicological risk. PAH source analysis highlighted primary impacts of combustion sources on the more industrialized upper TGR section, whereas petrogenic sources dominated the mid-low section. Furthermore, sediment extracts from several sites exhibited significant activities of frameshift promutagens in the Ames fluctuation assay. Additionally, significant genotoxic impairments in erythrocytes of P. vachellii were detected (Chongqing/Kaixian), demonstrating the relevance of genotoxicity as an important mode of action in the TGRs fish. PAHs, their derivatives and non-target compounds are considered as main causative agents.

Potential water-related environmental risks of hydraulic fracturing employed in exploration and exploitation of unconventional natural gas reservoirs in Germany

BackgroundThe application of hydraulic fracturing during exploration and exploitation of unconventional natural gas reservoirs is currently under intense public discussion. On behalf of the German Federal Environment Agency we have investigated the potential water-related environmental risks for human health and the environment that could be caused by employing hydraulic fracturing in unconventional gas reservoirs in Germany. Here we provide an overview of the present situation and the state of the debate in Germany and summarize main results of the conducted risk assessment.ResultsWe propose a concept for a risk assessment considering the site-specific analysis of the geosystem, the relevance of possible impact pathways and the hazard potential of the fracking fluids employed. The foundation of a sound risk analysis is a description of the current system, the relevant impact pathways and their interactions. An evaluation of fracking fluids used in Germany shows that several additives were employed even in newer fluids that exhibit critical properties or for which an assessment of their behaviour and effects in the environment is not possible or limited due to lack of current knowledge. The authors propose an assessment method that allows for the estimation of the hazard potential of specific fracking fluids, formation water, and the flowback based on legal thresholds and guidance values as well as on human- and eco-toxicologically predicted no-effect concentrations. The assessment of a previously employed and a prospectively planed fracking fluids shows that these fluids exhibit a high hazard potential. The flowback containing fracking fluid, formation water, and possibly reaction products can also exhibit serious hazard potentials, requiring environmentally acceptable techniques for its treatment and disposal.ConclusionsThe risk analysis must be conducted always site-specifically and consider regional groundwater flow conditions. The study concludes that currently missing knowledge and data prevent a profound assessment of the risks and their technical controllability in Germany. Missing knowledge and information includes data on the properties of the deep geosystem and of the behaviour and effects of the deployed chemical additives. In this setting the authors propose several recommendations for further action and procedures regarding the application of hydraulic fracturing in unconventional gas reservoirs in Germany.

Modelling raw water quality: development of a drinking water management tool

Ensuring future drinking water supply requires a tough management of groundwater resources. However, recent practices of economic resource control often does not involve aspects of the hydrogeochemical and geohydraulical groundwater system. In respect of analysing the available quantity and quality of future raw water, an effective resource management requires a full understanding of the hydrogeochemical and geohydraulical processes within the aquifer. For example, the knowledge of raw water quality development within the time helps to work out strategies of water treatment as well as planning finance resources. On the other hand, the effectiveness of planed measurements reducing the infiltration of harmful substances such as nitrate can be checked and optimized by using hydrogeochemical modelling. Thus, within the framework of the InnoNet program funded by Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology, a network of research institutes and water suppliers work in close cooperation developing a planning and management tool particularly oriented on water management problems. The tool involves an innovative material flux model that calculates the hydrogeochemical processes under consideration of the dynamics in agricultural land use. The program integrated graphical data evaluation is aligned on the needs of water suppliers.